Container



June 14, 1960 EASTER 2,940,654

CONTAINER Filed Sept. 18, 1958 3 Ross A.Easter ATTORNEY United StatesPatent CONTAINER Ross A. Easter, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to ThePillsbury Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 18, 1958, Ser.No. 761,851

4 Claims. (Cl. 229-43) This invention relates to containers, and moreparticularly to a carton with a thermoplastic cover which is appliedtheretoin a novel manner.

In numerous industries, such as those which are concerned withfoodstuffs, there is considerable demand for a container which is bothsift-proof and leak-proof, and which is, for the most part, constructedof fibrous materials, rather than of metal or glass.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an etficientcontainer of the type referred to hereinabove which is simple andinexpensive.

The invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully describedand as particularly pointed out in the claims, the following descriptionand the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrativeembodiments of the invention, these being indicative of some of severalways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective of the upper portion of a carton minus the topclosure which has been constructed in accordance with the teachings ofthe present invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation taken along the line 11-11of Figure .1; and

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line IIIIII ofFigure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 2 designatesthe side walls of a rectangular folding carton or box the same havingend walls 3. The aforementioned portions of the folding carton and thebottom (not shown) are of such construction and arrangement as to renderthem sift-proof and leak-proof, as by means of any of the protectivecoatings which are known in the art.

As previously mentioned, the teachings of the present inventioncontemplates the filling of the rectangular carton or box with thedesired product, after which a thermoplastic cover is applied to certainportions of the upper ends of the side and end walls, as will bespecifically described hereinafter.

As shown in Figure 1, the upper ends of the side walls 2 arehorizontally scored and the portions thereabove bent to form relativelyshort flanges or flaps 2a which extend outwardly at an angle of at leastapproximately ninety degrees, and preferably more than one hundred andtwenty degrees. In some instances, it may be preferable to extend thisangle to close to one hundred and eighty degrees.

The distance from which the foreshortened flaps 2a protrude from thescore line may be quite short, and only sufiicient to permit the saidflaps to be turned outwardly and downwardly to the degree described..The end walls 3 are provided with an inwardly extending flap portion 3bhaving an integrally formed and reversely extending flap portion 30 ofsimilar size and shape which is adapted to overlie it. According to thisconstruction, there is provided an inwardly extending flap member Sb-3cof double thickness which extends inwardly at approximately ninetydegrees to the plane of the end wall 3 by which it is carried. With theside-wall flaps 2a disposed downwardly and outwardly as shown in Figure2 and the end-wall flaps lib-30 folded upon each other and occupying asubstantially horizontal position as shown in Figure 3, a top closure 7is placed in position, the same being formed of a suitable thermoplasticmaterial. This thermoplastic cover sheet 7 is heated and pulleddownwardly by pressure or vacuum onto the sidewall flaps 2a and end-wallflaps fab-30 to the extent indicated in Figures 2. and 3; and thismovement is continued until the thermoplastic coversheet 7 and thesidewall flaps 2a are moved downwardly into parallelism with theadjacent surface of the side-wall. In this manner, the top of the sideedges of the carton is completely closed and sealed; and there isprovided an edge portion 7a which locks against the outer and downwardlyextending edges of the flaps, including the extremities of the latter.

The end wall construction provides a flap 3b-3c having an upwardlydirected spring action against which the sealing of the thermoplastictop cover 7 may take place. In this construction, the side edges of thesaid thermoplastic top cover overlie the space between the upper andouter edge of the flap portion 30 and the score line from which the flap3b extends, the relationship being as shown at 7c in Figure 4.

While I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of thepresent invention, it will be readily understood .that'I do not wish tobe limited exactly thereto, since various modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A container comprising a rectangular carton formed of sheet materialand having a closed bottom, the upper ends of two of the side walls ofsaid carton being scored along horizontal lines and bent outwardly toprovide relatively short flanges which extend at angles of at leastninety degrees, the upper ends of the end walls of said carton beingdouble-scored along horizontal lines and double-folded to providerelatively short flanges which extend inwardly of the carton at anglesof approximately ninety degrees with respect to the end walls, and athermoplastic cover overlying all of said flanges and being sealed tothe outer edges thereof, said thermoplastic cover being also sealed tothe end walls of said carton immediately adjacent their points ofconnection with the double-folded flanges.

2. A container comprising a rectangular carton formed of sheet materialand having a closed bottom, the upper ends of two of the side walls ofsaid carton being scored along horizontal lines and bent outwardly toprovide relatively short flanges which extend at angles of at least onehundred and twenty degrees, the upper ends of the end walls of saidcarton being double-scored along horizontal lines and double-folded toprovide relatively short flanges which extend inwardly of the carton atangles of approximately ninety degrees with respect to the end walls,and a thermoplastic cover for said container, said thermoplastic coveroverlying all of said flanges and being sealed to the outer edgesthereof, said thermoplastic cover being also sealed to the end walls ofsaid carton immediately adjacent their points of connection with thedouble-folded flanges.

3. A container comprising a rectangular carton formed of sheet materialand having a closed bottom, the upper ends of two of the opposing sidewalls of said carton being scored along horizontal lines and bentoutwardly to provide relatively short flanges which extend at angles ofat least ninety degrees, the upper ends of the other two side walls ofsaid carton being double-scored along horizontal lines and double-foldedto provide relatively short flanges which extend inwardly of the car-tonat angles of approximately ninety degrees with respect to saidfirst-named side walls, and a thermoplastic cover overlying all of saidflanges and being sealed to the outer edges thereof, saidthermoplasticeover being also sealed to said first-named side Wallsimmediately adjacent their points of connection with said double-foldedflanges.

4.- A container comprising-a rectangular carton formed of sheet materialand having a closed bottom, the upper ends of two of the opposing sidewalls of said car-ton being scored along horizontal lines and bentoutwardly to provide relatively short flanges which extend at angles ofat least one hundred and twenty degrees, the upper ends of the other twoside walls of said carton being double-scored along horizontal lines anddouble-folded References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS 1,815,565 Hill-et a1. July 21, 1931 2,041,537 Frost May 19, 19362 ,740,444 Martinelli Apr. 3, 1956 2,758,775 Moore Aug. 14, 1956 owler."on...

